Latest Bcl-2 Stories

Finding rewrites old theory of why chemo works Challenging a half-century-old theory about why chemotherapy agents target cancer, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have devised a test that can predict how effective the drugs will be by determining whether a patient's tumor cells are already "primed" for death. In a study published online by the journal Science on Oct. 27, the researchers report that cancer cells that are on the verge of self-destruction are more likely to...

Researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have for the first time identified a 'programmed cell death' pathway in parasitic worms that could one day lead to new treatments for one of the world's most serious and prevalent diseases. Dr Erinna Lee and Dr Doug Fairlie from the institute's Structural Biology division study programmed cell death (also called apoptosis) in human cells. They have recently started studying the process in schistosomes, parasitic fluke worms responsible...

SEATTLE, WA and LA JOLLA, CA, Sept. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - Oncothyreon Inc. (Nasdaq: ONTY) and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) today announced that they have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for sabutoclax and related compounds. Sabutoclax is a pan-inhibitor of the Bcl-2 family of anti-apoptotic proteins currently in pre-clinical development. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. "Overexpression of one or more members of...

Some of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer are more vulnerable to chemotherapy when it is combined with a new class of anti-cancer agent, researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have shown.ABT-737 is one of a new class of anti-cancer agents called BH3 mimetics that target and neutralise the so-called Bcl-2 proteins in cancer cells. Bcl-2 proteins act to 'protect' the cells after they have been damaged by chemotherapy drugs, and prevent the cancer cells from...

Discovery of killer cells has potential for targeted cancer therapiesScientists at Trinity College Dublin have made an important discovery concerning how fledgling cancer cells self-destruct, which has the potential of impacting on future cancer therapies. The Trinity research group, led by Smurfit Professor of Medical Genetics, Professor Seamus Martin and funded by Science Foundation Ireland, has just published their findings in the internationally renowned journal, Molecular Cell.Professor...

New research led by UC Davis scientists provides insight into why some body organs are more susceptible to cell death than others and could eventually lead to advances in treating or preventing heart attack or stroke.In a paper published Jan. 21 in the journal Molecular Cell, the UC Davis team and their collaborators at the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University report that Bax, a factor known to promote cell death, is also involved in regulating the behavior of...

Prototype drug blocks MCL-1 protein that helps tumors survive treatmentScientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have found a way to disable a common protein that often thwarts chemotherapy treatment of several major forms of cancer.The researchers discovered, surprisingly, that they could exploit a small portion of this anti-death protein, called MCL-1, to make a molecular tool that specifically blocked MCL-1's "pro-survival" action, allowing standard cancer drugs to kill the...

Adding a second agent may make a new, experimental anti-cancer drug effective against a wide range of cancers, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found.A man-made compound called ARC was shown by UIC researchers in 2006 to cause tumor cells to die while leaving normal cells unharmed. ARC, an acronym for its long chemical name, resembles one of the chemical building blocks of DNA. Andrei Gartel, associate professor of molecular genetics, and coworkers...

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a malignant tumor, characterized by a poor prognosis and unresponsive to conventional chemotherapeutic agents. Therefore, searching for novel and effective therapeutic agents for CCA is necessary. In previous studies, several caged xanthones from G. hanburyi have been reported to be potent antiproliferatives as well as having anticancer and anti-tumor activities and they induce apoptosis in various cancer cell lines. However, the molecular target of these compounds...

The TRAIL ligand is a promising anticancer agent that preferentially kills tumor cells without apparent damage to healthy cells. Many cancers exhibit resistance to TRAIL, however, thus limiting its therapeutic potential. According to a study in the March 22 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, small molecules known to block Mcl-1 (induced myeloid leukemia cell differentiation protein) might represent a suitable means to overcome TRAIL resistance.Researchers know that TRAIL-induced cell death...